What’s in Season? December Produce

Man, it’s cold outside! It’s below freezing in Oklahoma this morning, so Cookie is snuggled up next to my feet. I suppose the cold season isn’t all bad—now’s the time for slow-cooked stews, roasted winter vegetables (my favorite!) and baked holiday treats. The growing season has come to an end across most of the northern states, but I’ve rounded up the vegetables and fruits you might be able to find locally or from nearby states below.

Thanks again to Becky for letting me base this resource on her “Eat Seasonal” monthly seasonal produce lists. Tag your seasonal produce and recipe pics #eatseasonal on Instagram so we can go check them out!

Beets

I’m slowly changing my tune about beets, but I still don’t have any beet recipes on the blog. Beets are tremendously earthy and can be eaten fresh, cooked or roasted. Some (like the golden variety) are pretty sweet. Beets elsewhere:

Brussels Sprouts

My beloved Brussels sprouts are officially back in season! These poor baby cabbages have been maligned for years because someone decided to boil them to soggy, sulfurous deaths. I absolutely love roasted, caramelized Brussels and super crispy fried sprouts that I order at restaurants every chance I can get. I like to shred sprouts in my food processor and use them in slaws—they’re more fine and less watery than their full-sized cabbage cousins. Brussels Sprouts elsewhere:

cabbage

I can’t get enough cabbage! Cousin to broccoli, this potent anti-cancerous cruciferous vegetable is great raw, in slaws, roasted in pieces, or chopped and sautéed with olive oil and garlic. Select cabbages with compact heads that feel heavy for the their size. Cabbage generally keeps for a pretty long time in the vegetable crisper, so it’s a good ingredient to keep on hand. Cabbage elsewhere:

carrots

Technically, carrots are only in season until the first frost, so most of our winter carrot supply comes from storage. I love to turn full-sized raw carrots into “noodles” with my julienne peeler or “ribbons” with a regular peeler. Carrots are also fantastic when well roasted—leave them in the oven until they are deeply caramelized and golden. Carrots elsewhere:

Citrus fruits

Citrus shows up every year when the sky goes gray and we’re in desperate need of some bright color. You can find some great grapefruit, lemon, orange and tangerine in stores right now! I use lemon in my favorite salad dressing, it tastes so fresh! Citrus fruits elsewhere:

kale

We all love kale, and for good reason! It’s tremendously good for you and totally delicious, given the right preparation. Chop kale for stir-fries or a side of greens (sauté in olive oil and garlic), or massage it with a dash of salt for salads (see any of my kale salads for further instruction), or lightly coat roughly chopped kale with olive oil and roast it for kale chips. You can also blend kale into smoothies or juice it. Kale elsewhere:

parsnips

Parsnips are root vegetables that look like off-white carrots with parsley-like, leafy tops. Unsurprisingly, they’re related to both carrots and parsley. Parsnips are usually served roasted or cooked, but can also be eaten raw. They’re particularly high in potassium. I don’t have any parsnip recipes (yet), but I’ll work on that! Parsnips elsewhere:

Pomegranate

I saw pomegranates weighing heavy on trees in Israel a couple of weeks ago. Pomegranates yield the most gorgeous, ruby-colored, juicy gems called arils. The only tricky part is getting the arils out of the pomegranate shell and membrane. I’ve tried a few methods and always go back to this one. I love to add pomegranate to salad in place of dried cranberries or add a sprinkling of pomegranate to my oatmeal or yogurt with granola. Pomegranate elsewhere:

potatoes

Who doesn’t love a crispy potato? Roasting cubes of potatoes brings out way more flavor than boiling them. Varieties outside of the standard Russet (especially the more colorful potatoes) tend to offer more nutritional value. Buy organic! Potatoes elsewhere:

radishes

How I love radishes! Raw, chopped radishes lend a spicy crunch to salads and makes a great garnish for fresh Mexican meals. I often prefer radishes to raw red onion, which can easily overwhelm other raw ingredients. Whole, raw, spicy radishes served with butter and flaky salt are an incredibly simple and delicious appetizer. I also love pickled radishes, but the verdict is still out on roasted radishes. Radishes elsewhere:

Sweet Potatoes

I used to hate sweet potatoes! Then I tried a sweet potato fry and changed my tune. I still don’t enjoy sweetened, mashed sweet potatoes, but I could live off of salted, caramelized, roasted sweet potato. I especially love Mexican-style sweet potatoes with black beans, salsa verde and hot sauce! Sweet potatoes elsewhere:

Turnips

I honestly don’t any experience with turnips, so I just added them to my grocery list. Turnips look like white radishes. They often have a cute blush of pink or purple near the top, where the sunlight hit the turnip while it was still in the ground. The larger the turnip, the more intense the flavor. From what I can gather, you’ll probably appreciate the turnip flavor more once it’s been cooked. Turnips elsewhere:

winter squash

Winter squash is here! I’ve seen butternut, delicata, spaghetti, acorn and kabocha lately! Most winter squash (like butternut and kabocha, but not delicata) have thick skins that usually need to be removed. Squash elsewhere:

This is fantastic! I always wondered, though, if these things are in season across the country or just in Oklahoma? I’d assume that regionally there would be some differences, but for the most part it would apply. Anyway, great idea for a post!

I love this post! Thanks for sharing. Excited to try some of these yummy recipes.

Ps- I learned an awesome way to shell (shell? peel? whatevs) a pomegranate a couple of years ago. Cut the pomegranate in half horizontally, place the flat/exposed/juicy side face down on the palm of your left hand. Take a wood/metal spoon in your other hand and whack the back side of the pomegranate (go to town/beat it to death). After you do this for a little, pull the pomegranate away from you hand over a bowl. The arils will fall out of the pomegranate and into the bowl. So fast. So easy.

This produce list and these recipe lists are awesome and now I want to go out and buy all of these vegetables and make one big giant salad! I used to hate beets too and now I’m slighly addicted to them! They are awesome with goat cheese :)

wow..what a great post! I think it’s interesting that even though the weather is cold and dreary, Mother Nature gives us vibrant bright colored fruits and vegetables year round! I love cooking with seasonally fresh ingredients. Thanks for all the great recipe ideas!

I always wait for this post every month! It inspires me to try different and in season vegetables or give vegetables (like brussel sprouts, which are amazing roasted) a second chance. Love your blog and love this monthly post!

So awesome that you post these each month! Also being in the Midwest, I can trust I will be able to find this stuff easily and I could always use a nudge to try new produce. Spring and summer time is really easy for me to know what is in season because I just head to the garden in our back yard, but I don’t keep any fall/winter veggies and never know what to buy in stores! This helps a lot!

I loved the Kung Pao Brussell Sprouts so much! Going to put this into regular rotation! The hubs loved it, too! Excited to try the Beef Bourguignon, looks amazing! You can also make Beans Bourguignon, it’s super good, too!